Trucker, retired cop indicted in car theft scheme

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7/23/2002

A truckdriver
was indicted last week for conspiring with a retired New Orleans
police officer to haul stolen vehicles from Louisiana to Mississippi
to be resold. The scheme allegedly cost insurers and the actual
owners of the vehicles more than $58,000.

Thomas Johnson
of New Orleans, allegedly transported three stolen vehicles to
Mississippi and submitted false documents to get the vehicles
registered to owners there. He then arranged to have the vehicles'
titles sent to their purported owners at a mail box he rented.

Former policeman
Wellington Beaulieu, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy, admitting
he used a police computer to erase the records of 20 stolen cars
recovered in Louisiana so they could be resold in Mississippi.
Beaulieu reportedly was paid $200 to $500 for each car he put
on the black market.

His brother
Ronald Beaulieu, a New Orleans police veteran who resigned in
January, also pleaded guilty in April to failing to notify authorities
that his brother used his police job to facilitate the scheme.
Both men are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14.